Season ends for ’Bows

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RUSTON, La. » Hawaii's lack of pitching depth finally caught up to it as the Rainbows were eliminated from the Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament yesterday.

Fresno    Hawaii 11 4 Nevada    Hawaii 12 7

Alan Ahmady hit two home runs as top-seeded Fresno State knocked Hawaii out of the winner's bracket with an 11-4 win yesterday morning.

Hawaii came back in the evening to play Nevada in an elimination game that the 'Bows lost 12-7.

Hawaii ended the season 29-31, but overcame a tough nonconference schedule and key injuries late in the season to make a run in the WAC tournament.

"This is my 20th year coaching and I've never been more proud of any team I've been around because of what they had to go through," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "To turn things around, finish second in the conference and continue to win and play well with (Jared) Alexander and (Alex) Bates out, I really feel like these kids deserve some serious accolades."

Hawaii rolled through its first two tournament games and had a 3-1 lead on the Bulldogs in the sixth, before Fresno State rallied.

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RUSTON, La. » A promising start to the day ended in disappointment as the Rainbows baseball team saw its season come to an end.

Jason Rodriguez went 4-for-5 with four RBIs and Terry Walsh had five hits and scored three runs as Nevada defeated Hawaii 12-7 to advance to the championship game of the Western Athletic Conference tournament at J.C. Love Field.

Hawaii played the Wolf Pack in an elimination game after falling to top-seeded Fresno State 11-4 earlier in the day. Alan Ahmady hit two home runs and the Bulldogs scored 10 consecutive runs after the Rainbows took a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning.

"The tough thing was the first game and (Matt) Daly going out there after we got a lead and walking two guys," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "That was disappointing."

Daly got the start against the Bulldogs and was locked in a pitching duel with Fresno State's Justin Miller through five innings.

The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the sixth when Landon Hernandez and Matt Roquemore led off with back-to-back home runs to put Hawaii in front 2-1. Miller, who had allowed two hits through the first five innings, then walked Greg Garcia and Jon Hee consecutively before being pulled.

Jeff Van Doornum added a run-scoring single to increase Hawaii's lead to 3-1, but things spiraled out of control for the Rainbows from that point.

Daly's nemesis all season has been control problems, and it continued as he walked the first two batters in the bottom of the inning after Hawaii had taken the lead.

Erik Wetzel followed with a two-run double and Ahmady hit the first of his two home runs in the game as the Bulldogs scored seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to take an 8-3 lead.

After Hawaii was retired in order in the seventh, Ahmady hit his second two-run homer in as many innings to put the game out of reach.

The loss forced the Rainbows to play an elimination game against Nevada later in the day.

The Wolf Pack jumped on Rainbows starter Josh Slaats for five runs with two outs in the second inning and never trailed to defeat the 'Bows for the second time in six games this season.

"The night cap was tough, because it's hard to beat a good team five out of six times," Trapasso said.

Brandon Haislet ended his Rainbows career by going 4-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs and Hernandez hit his second home run in as many games.

Nevada led 12-3 in the eighth inning, but similar to the way Hawaii fought back from a 9-19 start to win 20 of its next 30 games, the Rainbows didn't fade into the night without a fight.

Haislet and Van Doornum hit run-scoring singles in the eighth to pull within seven. Senior Evan Zimny hit a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth and Haislet scored Zimny on a RBI double as Hawaii cut the deficit to five before Van Doornum flied out to end Hawaii's season.

"It was a team that fought and scratched and clawed all the way to the end," Trapasso said.

"We just ran out of arms with those three guys on the shelf. You've got to win with what you got and we just weren't able to beat a good team five out of six times."

The Rainbows finished the season 29-31.

It's the first losing season under Trapasso since his first year as head coach

"We didn't have a winning season for the first time in however many years, but you know what, I look at what these guys did from April 1st and what we did to finish second in WAC play and how they turned the season around," Trapasso said. "If we can start off next year where we left off this year from April 1st, I think we've got great things to look forward to."